Online Read Books

Archive for January, 2012

I haven’t had such a horrible reading experience since I think about 1998 or 1999. I had forgotten that it was like trying to wrestle an octopus in the dark. It’s better when you have light, lots of light. The worst part is not so much trying to see the blurry, small print on cheap paper as it is trying to keep the page from curving and the whole thing closing and slipping out of your hands–hands because the unpleasant process takes two hands to make it viable. And your arms get tired and maybe cold if you don’t have the heat turned up sufficiently.

Of course there’s always the problem of losing your place when you set the bloody thing down for a minute. Or it can close on you unexpectedly when you’re not paying attention. Forget bookmarks. They fall out, and you have to spend a half hour figuring out where you left off.

If the damn thing is borrowed from a friend or a library, you can’t make annotations, highlight or draw in it for it would be a cardinal sin. And what if you want to copy a passage and paste it in another document? Fergetaboutit.

I have to say I enjoyed the story for it was well crafted and kept me turning the pages, which is another bother that takes some dexterity. Turning pages is like eating potato chips–it’s difficult to do just one. Most of the time the pages stuck together, and it was not easy to turn just one, which of course slows down the process and contributes to the unpleasantness of it all.

No doubt, you’ve figured out by now that I’m talking about the torturous ordeal of reading a cursed TreeBook. What a shameful waste of paper. May all publishers go bankrupt. We don’t need them anymore. They are evil and do not deserve support.

To Blazes with TreeBook publishers. They are dinosaurs doomed to extinction. Authors should abandon them and make greater profits by self-publishing eBooks and selling them online where they keep the lion’s share of the profits instead of giving most of it to the worthless publishers.

As an aside, I looked up the paperback TreeBook I was reading, it cost $9.99. Yes, it was available on Amazon in eBook format ready for instant download. I didn’t have to order it and wait for it to come in the mail and pay postage. I didn’t have to drive down to a bookstore, find a parking place, hope the book was in stock and pay taxes on it. BUT, the eBook price was exactly the same as the paperback price. $9.99. Now that’s a rip off and that is due to the pure greed of publishers.

An eBook costs nothing to produce compared to the cost of paper, ink, machinery, and labor for a TreeBook. There is no shipping, no warehousing, no returns and more shipping. So, why do they cost the same? Pure, unadulterated greed. The publishers think they can now, after trying to stop eBooks for years, cash in on the publics’ sudden discovery of eBooks. We do not need publishers. They should be taken out of the equation. This is really true too when it comes to textbooks which have always been a robbers roost bilking generations of students.

Fortunately, more and more people are beginning to see the light. Amazon, the biggest book seller in the universe is now selling twice the number of eBooks as it sells TreeBooks. Praise the Lord. Bookstores are going out of business willy nilly. We don’t need them either. I worry a little about the fate of libraries, but most are adapting to the digital age so that you can checkout eBooks and audiobooks online without ever stepping foot in a book museum. (Don’t get me wrong, I love libraries and have always been a staunch supporter).

When some poor, misguided soul tells me that they love to curl up with a TreeBook, you know they really don’t know what they’re talking about. They all seem to think you have to take a desktop computer to bed with you to read an eBook or sit uncomfortably before one in an office. It’s difficult to imagine that there could be such ignorance in this day and age.

While I think the first Kindles are equivalent to stone tablets technology-wise compared to what’s possible, I have to give them credit for exposing a growing and enthusiastic audience to the wonderful world of eBooks. The old black and white Kindles were definitely a step in the right direction, but they lack so many features that it is almost a joke. For instance, they don’t even have a backlight so reading them in bed is impossible without an adequate external light source.

However, the new Kindle Fire, has redeemed itself with a color, back-lit screen and an Android operating system that allows you to perform almost any function a computer can perform such as cruising the Internet, emailing, playing games, texting, watching recorded or streamed movies, and a host of other tasks limited mostly by the apps you download into it. You can even listen to music while reading an eBook on one. Try that with a TreeBook.

True the Kindle Fire is not as powerful as a full-scale Android Tablet. For instance, it lacks 3G, it lacks front and rear cameras, it lacks a microphone. It has a scrawny processor with limited memory. But at $199, it’s one third of the price of the cheapest iPad, which will certainly sway many folks already loyal to Kindle and Amazon.

While Barnes and Noble’s Nook eBook reader had the foresight to start with an Android operating system and a back lit color screen, it is still not as full featured as a high end Android Tablet PC, but the price is certainly attractive too when compared to the overpriced iPads. Nooks start at just $99.

I am not thrilled with iPads because of the limited memory that cannot be expanded. There are no external ports of any kind for peripheral devices or storage media. Surfing the Web can be frustrating too on an iPad due to its inability to display Flash graphics.

If you want a great eBook reader, I would highly recommend a Kindle Fire or Nook. If you want a more powerful Tablet, I would suggest investing a few more bucks and getting a nice Android Tablet. An eBook reader would make a much appreciated Christmas present.

But, let’s look at other alternatives for reading eBooks that may not cost you anything. If you already have a Smartphone such as an Android, Windows 7 or IOS device, you are in business. You can simply download an eBook reader app for free, Kindle being only one of the many alternatives. There are many places you can download eBooks free on the Web. Most libraries these days allow card holders free downloads too. Naturally, you can buy best sellers online and download them instantly.

Laptops and Netbooks also make fine eBook readers. Just download the eBook software, grab some eBooks, and away you go.

Some people think that reading an entire eBook on a small phone screen is silly. Well, I’m sure these same people are familiar with reading a newspaper and probably even still subscribe to one, which is another artifact of the past. But, reading an eBook on a phone screen is just like reading a newspaper column of print, only better.

Why better? It’s better because you can change the type size, type style, background color, and type color. It’s better because you can highlight text, underline it, copy and paste it. It’s better because it’s back lit in most cases (except the early Kindles). It’s better because you never lose your place. It opens up right where you left off every time. It’s better because you can annotate and draw right on the page without destroying the precious eBook. It’s better because you can search for any passage or word and retrieve it instantly. It’s better because you can annotate, store, index, and retrieve as many bookmarks as you wish. It’s better because you can tap on a word, and the definition will pop up on the screen. Try that with your dumb TreeBooks.

With so many alternatives, why not get started reading eBooks? The pages turn better, and some will even scroll at variable speeds so you never have to turn a page manually I am confident that even the most staunch old fuddy duddy TreeBook supporter will have to grudgingly admit that an eBook is the best of reads after all.

Determined to finish, I finally got through the TreeBook ordeal, but it left me grumpy (can you tell?) and exhausted. I’ll probably never read another TreeBook as long as I live; life is too short. If was the best of reads (thanks to the author); it was the worst of reads (no thanks to the publisher).

Sand Play for the Soul: Awakening the Power of YOU to New Worlds of Possibility

by Paula Petrovic

Soul House Press (2006)

ISBN 0977791408

Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (8/06)

I had the pleasure of reading “Sand Play for the Soul” while I was camping in Flagstaff. Flagstaff is nearby Sedona, where the book was created and where Paula Petrovic does her Sand Play sessions. Her writings really touched me on a deep level. It made it feel more special to know that I was nearby where this incredible work takes place.

My initial thought about reading the book was based on my ego. I felt that it would enhance my counseling background to read about a different form of communication. I was familiar with play therapy, but Sand Play goes so much deeper than that. My heart knew that I needed to read this book for myself and for the work that I needed to do on healing and connecting with my soul.

Through Sand Play, you use a tray filled with sand and small objects to make this connection. How you place meanings on these objects and where you place them in your tray gives you answers that you need to understand yourself and to see where you need to heal. You communicate with your soul, and allow it to tell you what work needs to be done. Petrovic says, “There is nothing you cannot accomplish when you and your soul are in league as ‘One.’”

The purpose of the sand tray and objects is to provide a three dimensional means in which to have this communication. She believes, “releasing set beliefs and habitual patterns which often hold us captive and causes mental, emotional, and physical suffering is no easy feat. However, being able to see your life story symbolically laid out before you helps you to put things into perspective and to be able to respond with clarity.” What I really like about this form of communication is that it is something that you can do on your own and continue to benefit from over time.

Sand Play helps you to discover what is right and true for you coming from, “the knowing place within your soul.” You can open communication up with your soul in a way that is “supportive, empowering and respectful.” Sand Play is meant to be enjoyable and enriching. I would love to attend one of Petrovic’s workshops, but for now I can practice this on my own.

In addition to providing a wealth of information about how and why Sand Play works, Petrovic also has a large section in the book called, “Sand Play Stories.” In this section she writes about the healing experiences of her clients. The people whose stories are told come from a variety of ages and backgrounds. Each story will touch your heart in a different way. The healing experiences that these people encounter are incredible. I recommend this book to readers that are looking for a deeper means to connect with their souls and who are seeking answers that really can only be found within themselves. I also recommend “Sand Play for the Soul” to counselors who would like to teach their clients to engage in self-discovery.

This is Keller’s latest ‘mini’ read. I do love that his publisher has his books produced in these small, compact units. They look neat and tidy and are never overwhelming especially to those who aren’t necessarily big readers but really want to read. This installment is a little different from his previous works as it talks about justice, obviously. Have you thought recently about justice and what it really means? Unfortunately the term has become relative to everyone. We all have our own version of justice and it isn’t necessarily correct – just appropriate to how we view the world. Subjectivity has become the way we live and we are very closed to even trying to think about someone else’s point of view let alone the old adage of walking a mile in someone else’s shoes!

Keller gives many examples of different situations where we may need to stop and think about how things are playing out for others. I think that with the economy the way it has been for the last couple of years we have an even wider expanse of classes especially in the western countries. Playing the keeping up with the Jones’ is finally taking its toll, but for some their situation has always been precarious. We definitely have an attitude of pulling up one’s bootstraps but sometimes that just isn’t possible either economically, socially or maybe intellectually. Politically we are also so polarized it is amazing that we get along at all – this saddens me as I have always been interested in politics and we ‘judge’ each other immediately and act accordingly. Read this book and expand your mind and thinking. Keller, as usual, is honest, kind and truly altruistic.

Men and women often vary in their reading habits. While on surface it often appears that a man and a woman like many things in common, which is indeed true to some extent, there are enough contradictions found to this belief if inspected from a depth. Reading habits, and in particular selecting the authors, plays a crucial role in terms of the content the authors present. More often than not, the degree of alignment of a writing with the psychological likes and dislikes of a person is the crux of an author being successful or not. And the observation one would make at this point is that while many authors would be a success with people of both the genders, there are certain authors who are better accepted by one gender than the other.

Surprisingly and not too surprisingly, we find that girls and women often tend to read classic literature written by women more than they read literature written by men. The reason has often been analyzed and never finalized. But the general understanding is that literature written by women generally tend to view the world, the society, the economics, the values, the family matters and everything else more often from a female perspective rather than a male perspective. This makes it easier for the female readers to associate themselves, their social lives and personal situations more to these writings than those written by males from a male perspective.

Hence, girls tend to read novels by Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters much more than they normally tend to read, lets say, Alexandre Dumas or Edgar Rice Burroughs. While all the authors mentioned here are immortals by the greatness of their own skills of the art, but it is the other factors such as social, socio-economic, personal and psychological alignment that makes the difference. This is not to say that men don’t read novels or writings by women or women don’t read those written by men, but just the degree to which a woman reader tends to read a book and come back is observed to be more with alignment of her “self” and emotions.

All said, which are the classic authors that women and girls tend to read more and tend to read yet again? Which are the ones that they tend to refer to other friends? Arguably following are the most-read five (5) women authors and their most-read works.

Author: Jane Austen

Popular titles:

• Pride and Prejudice
• Sense and Sensibility
• Emma
• Lady Susan

Author: Charlotte Bronte

Popular titles:

• Jane Eyre
• The Professor
• Shirley

Author: Emily Bronte

Popular title:

• Wuthering Heights

Author: Lucy Montgomery

Popular titles:

• Anne of Green Gables
• Anne of the Islands
• Rainbow Valley

Author: George Eliot

Popular titles:

• Adam Bede
• Brother Jacob
• Middlemarch

Mr. Raymond’s Drunken Act: Chapter 20

The white people in the town of Maycomb do not accept Mr. Dolphus Raymond, an elderly and wealthy man, because he married a black woman. Mr. Dolphus pretends to be a drunkard so the talks would tone down. He always carried a paper bag with some beverage in it. The drink he carries is not really alcohol and only a Cola drink. He offers Dill a drink from his paper bag. Dill drinks from the paper bag while Scout warns him not to drink much. Dill tells him it is only a cola soda.

Mr Raymond Explains to Scout:

Mr. Dolphus Raymond tells Dill that people’s cruelty makes him sick, which is why he pretends to be drunk since it makes people cautious about talking negatively about him and his family. The pretense also provides the white people an idea about his lifestyle. He therefore prefers the colored people over the white people. Scout is aware that they should not be seen talking to Mr Dolphus Raymond who was ostracized by society. Nevertheless, Scout finds him interesting and nice.

Atticus’s Closing Remarks:

The two children go back to the courtroom, hear Atticus’s closing remarks, and watch him make his appeal to the jury. He finished reviewing the evidence and points out the lack of medical evidence to conclude the event of rape. He further states that the witnesses’ testimonies, Mayella and Bob Ewell, are shaky and lack basis to conclude the rape accusation. It is apparent that the father of the victim beat the victim and not the accused. He narrates his own version and analysis of the entire scene.

Pleading to End Stereotypes:

Mayella is an unhappy and lonely white woman who lusts for a black man. He concealed her lustful act by accusing Tom of rape. Atticus begs the white jury to stop the presumption that all colored people are criminals. He wants to deliver justice to Tom Robinson’s plight by giving him his freedom. Jem is confident his father will win the case because a disabled man like Tom could never do the things Mayella accuses him of doing. Calpurnia walks in the courtroom just in time for Atticus to finish his plea.

This was a To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter Summary 20; there are 31 chapters in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Make sure to read every To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter summary, and not just chapter 20.